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resurgence of academic approaches reminiscent of later school years (Katz, 1999). A
curriculum based on the principles of developmental appropriateness is play-based. A
school model of early childhood education curriculum will have a numeracy and literacy
focus. Katz (1999) cites the work of Dorothy Gardner (1942) in an attempt to put to rest
controversy about curriculum and teaching methods by conducting a comparative study
of two nursery schools:
School A was characterized by what would be called today
“developmentally appropriate practice,” emphasizing creativity and
spontaneous play. School B was characterized by formal teacher-directed
activities, now commonly referred to as "academic" in focus. (p. 2)
Katz (1999) relates that despite Gardner’s findings that favoured “School A,” disputes
between curriculum approaches heavy with teacher instruction and those with a
constructivist nature continue to occur. There is also a tendency to need to proclaim one
curriculum model as being more effective and superior to another (Goffin & Wilson,
2001). These curriculum disputes dominate early childhood education in North America.
Early childhood education curriculum in North America has been influenced by
many factors. Of significance was the Head Start movement of the 1960s that provided
compensatory education for disadvantaged children. The intent was to prepare these
children for later school success. Early childhood curriculum models varied around a
cognitive focus. “The belief that developing school readiness was primarily a cognitive
undertaking was an implicit assumption” during this time (Goffin & Wilson, 2001, p. 23).
However, an early follow-up study of children enrolled in Head Start programs found that
initial gains in children’s school achievement began fading after the children entered
public school (Goffin & Wilson, 2001).